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A view of Wednesday rush-hour traffic at 5:30pm from O'Hare to Block 37 in downtown Chicago. Not a pretty trip.

A view of rush-hour Blue Line traffic in Chicago on a Wednesday night. Better, but it still takes 40 minutes to make the trip.

On Thursday morning, the city of Chicago announced that the Mayor's Office had chosen The Boring Company to build an express line between O'Hare International Airport and Block 37 in the city's downtown area, known as The Loop. The line will consist of two parallel tunnels, and it could take as little as 12 minutes to travel from point to point, according to a press release from the city.

Further Reading

The announcement is a major step for The Boring Company, which was started in 2016 by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Musk founded the company in the hope of alleviating city gridlock by building more tunnels, an endeavor that has set the company's engineers toward improving tunneling techniques.

The next step will bring the company and the city together to negotiate a contract that will be presented to the Chicago City Council.

Previous city officials have tried to implement an express line between Chicago's largest airport and the downtown area but to no avail. This most recent effort was originally proposed last November, when the city opened up a "Request for Qualifications"—the first formal step in vetting companies eligible to submit proposals. Two companies, including The Boring Company, advanced past the second "Request for Proposals" stage in March.

The details we know

Although contract negotiations may change some details, the city of Chicago revealed some of the key components of this new express service in its Thursday press release.

First, the build will not be taxpayer funded at all. The Boring Company will have to finance the entire build itself and operate and maintain the express line after it's completed.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel specified that the winning company would have to transport passengers and their luggage between the airport and downtown in 20 minutes or less. The Boring Company is promising that the system will transport passengers in 12 minutes with automated electric cars that carry 16 passengers (and their luggage) to a vehicle. A new station would be built downtown to accommodate this express line.

The Boring Company has released details about its proposed system already—it calls the system a "Loop," as in a modified version of the "Hyperloop" idea. (This means there will be a Loop to The Loop—very cute, Chicago.) Unlike the Hyperloop idea, the tunnels will not be depressurized. The company has stated that its electric pods would travel at 125-150 miles per hour. The city of Chicago's press release confirmed that The Boring Company has proposed vehicles that will travel faster than 100 miles per hour.

The Loop's exact line hasn't been determined yet, but it will consist of two parallel tunnels that run "straight northwest from downtown following public way alignments," according to the city's press release. City spokesperson Grant Klinzman told Ars that, currently, the only planned stops are between O'Hare and Block 37, although future stops haven't been ruled out.

The electric pods would depart both O'Hare and Block 37 as frequently as every 30 seconds.

One of the city's main stipulations was that the service cost less to use than comparable taxi and ride-share services, and, presumably, The Boring Company has said it can agree to those conditions. In addition to the no-taxpayer-funding requirement, the city also said that The Boring Company would have to agree "to ensure taxpayers would be protected against any costs incurred by an incomplete project." Exact project costs and construction timelines will be negotiated with the contract.

In its press release, the city said that approximately 20,000 people travel between O'Hare and Chicago's Loop every day, and that number is expected to rise to 35,000 per day by 2045. "The express service will offer a myriad of benefits to the city, travelers, and residents: providing a faster commute between the airport and downtown; helping to mitigate congestion on the region’s roadways; fostering economic growth and creating jobs throughout the lifetime of the project," the city's press release noted.

If all goes well in the contract-negotiation process, The Boring Company's selection by the city of Chicago is the most significant stepping stone for the company to date. Thus far, the company has received a permit to dig up a parking lot in Washington, DC, and it has received permission from the state of Maryland to build a 10-mile tunnel "beneath a state-owned portion of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway." But those two projects don't solve the biggest problem with major transportation infrastructure projects: navigating the politics and concerns of every jurisdiction and landowner between point A and point B.

In Los Angeles, the company had been making a little more headway, receiving permission from the city to build a 2.7-mile proof-of-concept tunnel and station parallel to the 405 freeway.

But in Chicago, the city will assist The Boring Company with all necessary permits, and there does seem to be some political will to have such a tunnel built within the city, and relatively quickly.

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

10 years of that income should be enough to pay off the cost of digging and outfitting, mmm, probably more than 1 meter, but probably less than 100 meters of the tunnel.

Schemes such as this often cost more than expected, though having only two stops will limit the expense.

Interesting, therefore, to know just what commitment the Boring Company has actually made over charges to passengers, since it might be possible to justify a premium based on speed and comfort, and nobody can reliably predict how the fares for alternative means of transport will change over the next decade or two.

This is a case where letting the market dictate price would be the safer option on all sides, as 'cheaper than alternatives' (now? at the time?) is a hostage to fortune.

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

as a comparison, the Taxi fare is ~$24 between the loop and O'Hare. That's probably a better starting point for pricing.

Yes, taking 40 minutes to travel 20 miles from city centre to airport is actually pretty reasonable by most large city standards.

I'm not sure if passenger numbers are enough to justify the tube cost. London tube for example carries 35,000 people per line *per hour*, and here we are talking about building a dedicated tube for currently 20,00 people per day, projected to rise to 35,000 people per day. This is at a time when travel times are becoming less important thanks to wireless tech, autonomous cars and cloud tech making remote working wherever you are more feasible / reducing downtime while in transport.

1/10 of the tube cost, spent on upgrading the Blue Line e.g. adding a non-stop airport only service, would get far faster results at less cost.

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

as a comparison, the Taxi fare is ~$24 between the loop and O'Hare. That's probably a better starting point for pricing.

So let's say $20 per passenger. You won't get all the passengers over on the new system, but let's say 15k a day. That's ~109 million per year.

Honestly, tunneling costs vary so much based on external factors and the condition of the soil that I don't think anyone is qualified to discuss the costs of such a tunnel without access to detailed studies of Chicago's underground. But I'd be worried if it was my money - it could certainly quickly balloon in cost.

Yes, taking 40 minutes to travel 20 miles from city centre to airport is actually pretty reasonable by most large city standards.

I'm not sure if passenger numbers are enough to justify the tube cost. London tube for example carries 35,000 people per line *per hour*, and here we are talking about building a dedicated tube for currently 20,00 people per day, projected to rise to 35,000 people per day. This is at a time when travel times are becoming less important thanks to wireless tech, autonomous cars and cloud tech making remote working wherever you are more feasible / reducing downtime while in transport.

1/10 of the tube cost, spent on upgrading the Blue Line e.g. adding a non-stop airport only service, would get far faster results at less cost.

Only way to make an upgraded blue line airport non-stop would be to build a completely new parallel line. Basically, need parallel track the whole way. That's a major above ground real estate issue.

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

as a comparison, the Taxi fare is ~$24 between the loop and O'Hare. That's probably a better starting point for pricing.

So let's say $20 per passenger. You won't get all the passengers over on the new system, but let's say 15k a day. That's ~109 million per year.

Honestly, tunneling costs vary so much based on external factors and the condition of the soil that I don't think anyone is qualified to discuss the costs of such a tunnel without access to detailed studies of Chicago's underground. But I'd be worried if it was my money - it could certainly quickly balloon in cost.

Whole point of The Boring Company is to dramatically lower tunneling costs. Who knows how well they've done so far.

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

as a comparison, the Taxi fare is ~$24 between the loop and O'Hare. That's probably a better starting point for pricing.

So let's say $20 per passenger. You won't get all the passengers over on the new system, but let's say 15k a day. That's ~109 million per year.

Honestly, tunneling costs vary so much based on external factors and the condition of the soil that I don't think anyone is qualified to discuss the costs of such a tunnel without access to detailed studies of Chicago's underground. But I'd be worried if it was my money - it could certainly quickly balloon in cost.

Whole point of The Boring Company is to dramatically lower tunneling costs. Who knows how well they've done so far.

True, but this is a big project to use to put your money where your mouth is. But we'll see - if they can do it that's certainly a Big Deal™

It might be an uncomfortable truth to hear but Elon's tunnel is a nice technical solution to a problem not worth solving.

Research and empirical evidence demonstrated that when new car infrastructure gets built traffic expands to make use of it and negates most of the planned gains from that infrastructure. This does not resonate well in the US but it's pretty much accepted wisdom in large parts of Europe. The Netherlands switched from car-only infrastructure projects to "full-sprectrum" transportation and ended up with much more liveable cities as a result.

The car is a really inefficient form of transportation in a lot of cases, so those cases should be mostly replaced by the underground, fixed path transport like trams, bycicles, buses, trains, walking and the occasional taxi. It still makes sense to own a car but it should be merely one form out of many.

You're not making any sense.

Which is it gonna be? Are cars bad, or is the tunnel bad? Is "full-spectrum" transportation the future or not? Your post is arguing both. If cars are a problem then obviously the new tunnel can't be "a nice technical solution to a problem not worth solving"?

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

Yes, taking 40 minutes to travel 20 miles from city centre to airport is actually pretty reasonable by most large city standards.

I'm not sure if passenger numbers are enough to justify the tube cost. London tube for example carries 35,000 people per line *per hour*, and here we are talking about building a dedicated tube for currently 20,00 people per day, projected to rise to 35,000 people per day. This is at a time when travel times are becoming less important thanks to wireless tech, autonomous cars and cloud tech making remote working wherever you are more feasible / reducing downtime while in transport.

1/10 of the tube cost, spent on upgrading the Blue Line e.g. adding a non-stop airport only service, would get far faster results at less cost.

London is almost finished building the new $20 billion Elizabeth line:

“The Elizabeth line will stretch more than 60 miles from Reading and Heathrow in the west through central tunnels across to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

The new railway - currently being built by Crossrail Ltd. - will stop at 41 accessible stations, 10 newly built and 30 newly upgraded, and is expected to serve around 200 million people each year.“

It might be an uncomfortable truth to hear but Elon's tunnel is a nice technical solution to a problem not worth solving.

Research and empirical evidence demonstrated that when new car infrastructure gets built traffic expands to make use of it and negates most of the planned gains from that infrastructure. This does not resonate well in the US but it's pretty much accepted wisdom in large parts of Europe. The Netherlands switched from car-only infrastructure projects to "full-sprectrum" transportation and ended up with much more liveable cities as a result.

The car is a really inefficient form of transportation in a lot of cases, so those cases should be mostly replaced by the underground, fixed path transport like trams, bycicles, buses, trains, walking and the occasional taxi. It still makes sense to own a car but it should be merely one form out of many.

You're not making any sense.

Which is it gonna be? Are cars bad, or is the tunnel bad? Is "full-spectrum" transportation the future or not? Your post is arguing both. If cars are a problem then obviously the new tunnel can't be "a nice technical solution to a problem not worth solving"?

Building a tunnel for cars is bad, imo. If Musk would be building high-speed rail in a tunnel between major parts of a city (mini-hyperloop) that would be something great.

Did you even glance at the article? That is literally what is being proposed here

It might be an uncomfortable truth to hear but Elon's tunnel is a nice technical solution to a problem not worth solving.

Research and empirical evidence demonstrated that when new car infrastructure gets built traffic expands to make use of it and negates most of the planned gains from that infrastructure. This does not resonate well in the US but it's pretty much accepted wisdom in large parts of Europe. The Netherlands switched from car-only infrastructure projects to "full-sprectrum" transportation and ended up with much more liveable cities as a result.

The car is a really inefficient form of transportation in a lot of cases, so those cases should be mostly replaced by the underground, fixed path transport like trams, bycicles, buses, trains, walking and the occasional taxi. It still makes sense to own a car but it should be merely one form out of many.

You're not making any sense.

Which is it gonna be? Are cars bad, or is the tunnel bad? Is "full-spectrum" transportation the future or not? Your post is arguing both. If cars are a problem then obviously the new tunnel can't be "a nice technical solution to a problem not worth solving"?

Building a tunnel for cars is bad, imo. If Musk would be building high-speed rail in a tunnel between major parts of a city (mini-hyperloop) that would be something great.

Where is this car tunnel stuff coming from? It says...

Quote:

Each vehicle will carry up to 16 passengers, plus their luggage, and will depart from O’Hare and from Block 37 as frequently as every 30 seconds.

It might be an uncomfortable truth to hear but Elon's tunnel is a nice technical solution to a problem not worth solving.

Research and empirical evidence demonstrated that when new car infrastructure gets built traffic expands to make use of it and negates most of the planned gains from that infrastructure. This does not resonate well in the US but it's pretty much accepted wisdom in large parts of Europe. The Netherlands switched from car-only infrastructure projects to "full-sprectrum" transportation and ended up with much more liveable cities as a result.

The car is a really inefficient form of transportation in a lot of cases, so those cases should be mostly replaced by the underground, fixed path transport like trams, bycicles, buses, trains, walking and the occasional taxi. It still makes sense to own a car but it should be merely one form out of many.

You're not making any sense.

Which is it gonna be? Are cars bad, or is the tunnel bad? Is "full-spectrum" transportation the future or not? Your post is arguing both. If cars are a problem then obviously the new tunnel can't be "a nice technical solution to a problem not worth solving"?

Building a tunnel for cars is bad, imo. If Musk would be building high-speed rail in a tunnel between major parts of a city (mini-hyperloop) that would be something great.

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

as a comparison, the Taxi fare is ~$24 between the loop and O'Hare. That's probably a better starting point for pricing.

On taxi fare finder, estimate is $55. The loop could charge $50 and people would pay just to save the time. It would be A premium product.

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

as a comparison, the Taxi fare is ~$24 between the loop and O'Hare. That's probably a better starting point for pricing.

On taxi fare finder, estimate is $55. The loop could charge $50 and people would pay just to save the time. It would be A premium product.

$55 is much closer to the fare to/from the loop than $24. However, a lot of people wouldn't pay $50 when you can just take the blue line which only takes ~30 min longer.

Can look at the experience in Toronto when they built the Union Pearson express. The service was significantly under used at it's original fare of something like $30 and didn't start becoming popular until that dropped by about half (and Toronto doesn't even have a direct subway link as an alternative).

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

O’hare is the fourth busiest airport in the world.

To be fair, a large portion of the O'Hare traffic is transit and not O&D. After all, it is the major hub for two of the largest airlines in the US.

15-20 minutes. There are places on the line that trains can't go full blast, or it would be a bit less. When the trains are booking it along the expressway, it's pretty fun, especially when the traffic outside is barely making 15mph.

There are sometimes "accidental" express runs to the loop (block 37 is the Washington station, generally expresses end at Lake street, one stop earlier) to fix train spacing or to position for rush hour. The underground parts of those trips will make your eardrums bleed, the El is stupidly noisy in spots. It's not as bad as when I was a kid and the cars had openable windows (which someone would always refuse to close underground and you could feel the insides of your head liquifying), but still pretty dang loud at speed.

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

as a comparison, the Taxi fare is ~$24 between the loop and O'Hare. That's probably a better starting point for pricing.

So let's say $20 per passenger. You won't get all the passengers over on the new system, but let's say 15k a day. That's ~109 million per year.

Honestly, tunneling costs vary so much based on external factors and the condition of the soil that I don't think anyone is qualified to discuss the costs of such a tunnel without access to detailed studies of Chicago's underground. But I'd be worried if it was my money - it could certainly quickly balloon in cost.

Whole point of The Boring Company is to dramatically lower tunneling costs. Who knows how well they've done so far.

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

as a comparison, the Taxi fare is ~$24 between the loop and O'Hare. That's probably a better starting point for pricing.

You can only achieve that fare at 2am, with no construction. More realistic (as someone who makes that trip 2-3 times a week) is $40-50.

Also, if the city is going to help with getting permits approved, that's amazing... Getting approval under our city's permitting process is a huge game of who do you know and how much can you pay for the pleasure of knowing that person...

it's approx 18 miles at a conservative estimate of 100mph, which would take just shy of 11 minutes.

Im not even sure if the blue line could go 100 miles an hour. Do we know what the safe maximum speed would be for the blue line?

Max speed on the trains they use on that stretch (5000 series) is 70mph, but they're speed governed in mid-50s. Also, so much of that stretch from downtown to O'Hare is still speed restricted due to track upgrades and maintenance, you only see 50 in short spurts...

it's approx 18 miles at a conservative estimate of 100mph, which would take just shy of 11 minutes.

HA! If the blue line ran even close to 100mph, it would derail on the first turn. It's designed for a max speed of just under 60 mph, and in practice rarely goes above 55, and that only in between the more spaced-out stations (such as the long run between Jefferson Park and Harlem Ave). The whole line got a lot slower when they stopped running A/B trains - the trip from Chicago Avenue to Lake Transfer (aka Clark/Lake) was another famously fast part of the run, if you were on a train that didn't stop at Grand. Not to mention all the "gentle" curves and turnouts that would bounce you around like a ping-pong ball.

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

as a comparison, the Taxi fare is ~$24 between the loop and O'Hare. That's probably a better starting point for pricing.

On taxi fare finder, estimate is $55. The loop could charge $50 and people would pay just to save the time. It would be A premium product.

No they wouldn't.

The taxi has the advantage that it can go right up to your house. For most people, to use this new line would require them to take a taxi or other transport to the station. If you're going to do that, why not take the taxi the whole way unless it is significantly cheaper to ride the new line?

Yes, taking 40 minutes to travel 20 miles from city centre to airport is actually pretty reasonable by most large city standards.

I'm not sure if passenger numbers are enough to justify the tube cost. London tube for example carries 35,000 people per line *per hour*, and here we are talking about building a dedicated tube for currently 20,00 people per day, projected to rise to 35,000 people per day. This is at a time when travel times are becoming less important thanks to wireless tech, autonomous cars and cloud tech making remote working wherever you are more feasible / reducing downtime while in transport.

1/10 of the tube cost, spent on upgrading the Blue Line e.g. adding a non-stop airport only service, would get far faster results at less cost.

And that would be true, if the city was paying for it. They are not. It is going to be an entirely privately funded venture. Perhaps at some point later in the future the city might purchase the system from the Boring Company fully constructed, but as of now they are going to build it and charge to use it.

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

O’hare is the fourth busiest airport in the world.

Yes, but because it is a hub. Most people don't leave the airport, they just transfer to a different flight.

So at around 6 dollars a ride lets say, 20k customers a day, that's a cool 43million plus a year in gross profit. I wonder what the actual expenses will be. I know that these programs are Elon's way of proofing Mars requirements, what else is he going to pull out of his sleeve?

10 years of that income should be enough to pay off the cost of digging and outfitting, mmm, probably more than 1 meter, but probably less than 100 meters of the tunnel.

You're saying that constructing a 3.6 m diameter traffic tunnel costs over $4.3 BILLION per kilometer? I know little about tunneling, but that sounds absurd. And if it's true, no wonder Musk though he could disrupt it.